


un foyer pour la nuit

by eliottamoureux



Series: tumblr drabbles/prompt fills [19]
Category: SKAM (France)
Genre: College AU, M/M, lucas being a dumbass and getting himself locked out of his dorm room au, oh also snuggling, strangers AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2021-01-27 19:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21397357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliottamoureux/pseuds/eliottamoureux
Summary: I’m your new neighbour and I got locked out, help!;& There’s only one bed and we sleep as far away as possible from each other but wake up cuddling
Relationships: Eliott Demaury/Lucas Lallemant
Series: tumblr drabbles/prompt fills [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1419991
Comments: 9
Kudos: 206





	un foyer pour la nuit

**Author's Note:**

> i come bearing yet another prompt fill!
> 
> the title has a bit of a double meaning— _foyer_, of course, means sort of like a common area, as i'm sure you all know from watching skam france. but it _also_ can also mean a fireplace/hearth, or even just a home. i thought that the multiple meanings worked well!
> 
> [here's the original fill on my tumblr!!](http://eliottamoureux.tumblr.com/post/188025251482/hello-could-you-do-44-and-9-from-the-prompts) you can read it on there, you can send me prompts of your own— whatever you like!

There’s no catharsis quite like a nice, hot shower.

When Lucas’ brain won’t quiet down— that is, most nights— he’ll take a long shower. There’s probably some scientific explanation as to why it calms him to the point where he can fall asleep, but he’s not sure about the details of it. In any case, he emerges in a cloud of steam feeling a lot better than before, and he thinks he’s finally ready to attempt sleep again. 

He’s not sure if it’s the new setting— the constant commotion of university dorms— or something else, but his brain has been racing a mile a minute, all day long. He wants nothing more than to rest, but his brain won’t allow that, apparently. He thinks about settling down into his uncomfortable dorm bed and finally being able to fall asleep, wills it into existence.

Except—

“Fuck,” he says, reaching into the pocket of the shorts he brought with him. He reaches into both pockets, and doesn’t feel his room key in either of them. “No, no— Fuck!” He’s heard that it’s a rite of passage for first years to forget their room key at least a dozen times throughout the year, but he really thought better of himself than to forget it on the very first day— well, night. 

He has his phone, at least— he can call building administration! All is not lost.

“Hello,” a pre-recorded voice drones, “Thank you for calling. Please note that our administrative services only run from 9am-5pm, and are closed for the day. Please call during these times if your have any questions or concerns. If you have an emergency, please call—”

“Fuck!” He says, again. He doesn’t want to call the emergency line— it’s not like being locked out of your room is an _emergency_, just a huge inconvenience. He stops to think, then. He contemplates toughing it out in the bathroom for the night— but quickly realizes that he would rather do literally anything else.

And so, a few minutes later, his clothes now back on, he’s staring at the door or his next-door neighbour, staring at his loopy handwriting, reading it over and over.

_Eliott Demaury_

_Second Year_

_Double Major, Literature & Media Studies_

Underneath his information is a cartoonish drawing of a raccoon. It has a speech bubble next to it that says _come say hi! _

Lucas wonders if that offer applies at— he checks his phone— 1:37am.

It’s worth a shot, he thinks. He takes a deep breath, reaches his fist up, and knocks three times. If his friendly doodle on his door is any indicator, he should be nice. It’s odd that they haven’t met yet, Lucas thinks. He’s just about to turn and leave, when he hears footsteps, and then the door opening, and—

Oh.

“Hello?” Eliott says, and Lucas just… Stands there. He stands there and he stares because Eliott kind of has the most beautiful eyes he’s ever seen and his hair looks so _soft_ and— “Can I help you?” There’s no malice to his voice, but it’s quite evident that he’s confused by Lucas standing there, in his doorway, in the middle of the night.

“Oh,” Lucas says, gathering himself, “Uh, I… I’m Lucas, I live next door. I, uh, locked myself out of my room— impressive on the first day, I know— and the admin office is closed until tomorrow morning, and so I can’t get back in to my room until tomorrow, and I just— I don’t know what to do. And you seemed nice from the sign on your door, and you’re in second year, and I just thought— maybe you’d know what to do? I’m sorry, I probably woke you up, but I’m just freaking out a bit, right now.” A beat of silence follows, where Eliott looks Lucas over, and Lucas can feel the other boy’s gaze go down, and then back up again. He tries not to shiver with it.

Eliott shrugs, and Lucas’ eyes follow the movement.

“No worries, come in.” And, okay, _what_? The majority of Lucas’ brain was expecting him to get laughed at, or to get the door slammed in his face— but getting invited in? Wasn’t even on his mental list of possibilities.

“Are you sure?” Lucas asks, because he still can’t quite believe that this is happening. He can’t believe that not only does he now have a place to stay for the night, but that place just so happens to be the room of the single most attractive person he’s ever seen.

“Lucas, I’m not going to abandon you on your first night of university. You can stay the night here.”

“Oh, okay.” Lucas says, following Eliott in, a little bit dumbfounded.

—

“So, first year science? Are you excited?” Lucas tries to figure out a way to tell Eliott that he’s scared shitless, that he has no clue what’s coming next. 

His face goes warm when he realizes that Eliott has been paying attention to him, that he knows what Lucas is studying. He’s thankful for the low light of Eliott’s desk lamp, for being able to conceal himself in the shadows.

“Yeah!” He lies, partially. Part of him is excited, to be on his own, to be away from his tumultuous family. “I’ve heard good things about most of my professors, so I’m hoping things will go alright.” _Hoping, praying_— “What about you, why did you choose literature and media studies?”

Eliott looks contemplative for a moment. “I really like storytelling, in all of its forms.” His voice has gone a bit quieter, and Lucas can tell that this is something vulnerable. “Have you ever read a book, or seen a movie, and it just… Stays with you? Becomes a part of you?” The way he says it makes Lucas’ heart ache for him. “Those sorts of stories are my favourite, and I love how everyone’s perspective is different, no two people will share the exact same view or opinion, it’s so subjective.” The way his eyes shine makes Lucas want to lean in, makes him want to watch Eliott forever. “I don’t know, I just… Really couldn’t imagine myself studying anything else. I want to make stories that do that for other people.” Lucas tries to nod noncommittally, to act like he doesn’t feel like Eliott has just laid himself bare in front of him.

To act like he isn’t so desperate to find out more about him that— in his sleep-derived state— he would die for it.

“That’s beautiful.” Lucas says. _You’re beautiful_, Lucas doesn’t say.

They talk like that for a while. Part of Lucas wants to leave, wants to stop disturbing Eliott at— he checks his phone, 2:24am— and let him go to sleep. But Eliott fills every pause with chatter, with bouts of laughter and soft smiles that make Lucas’ heart leap and tumble around inside his ribcage. Lucas can’t ignore the way sleep starts to tug on Eliott’s eyelids, the way his blinking gets slower and heavier, the way he keeps yawning.

“I don’t want to keep you awake too long.” He says, and Eliott shakes his head, wakefulness coming back to him for a brief moment.

“No, no, it’s fine!” Eliott says, “I was actually having some trouble sleeping, anyway. And it’s nice, talking to you.”

Lucas swallows, hard. His mind is a whirlwind of want, everything he wants to do with Eliott flying around his head. More than anything, though— “It’s nice talking to you, too.” And if it weren’t so late, if there wasn’t still that nagging little voice in the back of his mind droning _you’re bothering him, you’re burdening him_, Lucas would keep talking to Eliott without so much as a second thought. “But you look tired. We can talk in the morning.” The way Eliott smiles at him, then, makes something unfurl in his chest.

“Okay.” Eliott’s tone keeps switching— he’s never heard a simple okay sound so private, so special. “You can take the bed.” Another simple sentence with the softest tone Lucas has ever heard. He wants to wrap it around himself like a blanket, curl up under it and let Eliott’s voice lull him to sleep.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll sleep on the floor.” Because, really, it’s Eliott’s room. He’s not only a guest, but an unplanned guest, one who barged in in the middle of the night and he can’t just—

“Lucas, you’re my guest, I’m not letting you sleep on the floor.” 

“Eliott, it’s your room, I’m not letting you sleep on the floor.” Certainly not his best counter, but it’ll suffice, he supposes. Because it’s Eliott’s room— and also because the sheer _thought_ of spending the night bathed in Eliott’s scent is enough to make his head spin.

But then—

_Then_—

“Guess we’ll both have to take the bed.” Eliott says. He shrugs a bit, his face nearly smug, as if he knows exactly what’s going through Lucas’ head at this exact moment, frantic words running through his mind to the point where they’ve blended together, overlapping each other in a frenzied static. “Is that alright with you?” Eliott asks, and Lucas wants to answer yes, please i’ve never wanted anything more, wants to answer no, because my heart is pounding so hard it hurts and i’m scared of what you’re doing to me, with only your voice and your smile, wants to answer a thousand different things. Instead, though, he takes a deep breath, nods a couple of times, and says—

“Yeah,” as if that wasn’t the single best and worst thing anyone has ever said to him. “That’s fine.”

“Right or left?” Eliott asks, gesturing to his bed. Lucas ends up on the right, the side furthest from the wall. He tries his hardest not to toss and turn, but he finds himself turning over after a short while. However, when he does so, he’s face to face with Eliott, already asleep, he expression even and serene.

Lucas turns away almost immediately, his heart lurching, foreign, in his chest. Even when he turns, though, everything in the bed smells of Eliott, and that only makes his heart pound against his ribcage, threatening to burst out.

Lucas lays flat on his back, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep for an entirely different reason. He feels everything— the way Eliott’s toes brush against his ankle, the way the bed shifts every time he does, even his gentle breathing tickling his face, a whisper along the skin of his cheek, unsure whether he wants to lean away or lean in.

—

He isn’t sure when he fell asleep, but all he knows is that he did, and that he’s awake now, in the early morning sunlight.

And that his limbs are tangled with Eliott’s, so close that they’re nearly chest-to-chest. 

He’s still on his back, but at some point in the night, Eliott curled into him, snaking his long arms around Lucas’ waist to keep him pulled close. He’s sure it wasn’t a _willful_ decision on Eliott’s part, to send his heart hammering away during his first moments of wakefulness. If it was, though, Lucas certainly has some choice words for Eliott, because frankly _who has the right to_—

“Mm,” Lucas’ train of thought is cut off by Eliott, humming low in his throat, still asleep, his hands brushing along the skin of Lucas’ lower back, sending Lucas’ stomach aflutter, effectively silencing his thoughts. Part of him wants to pull away, wants to leave with a note or something, to see if the administrative staff have arrived yet.

_But_, the other part of his brain asks, _but do you really want to? _

And Lucas knows. He knows with an equal measure of curiosity and fear, that he doesn’t. That he wants this, for as long as Eliott will allow it. So there he lays, in Eliott’s embrace, his mind having settled, somehow. He’s barely known Eliott a night, and yet there’s this feeling in his chest that he wants to pursue in any way he can.

So when Eliott stirs again, Lucas ignores the sliver of panic that sneaks in, he digs his feet into place— metaphorically speaking— and he stays where he is. Eliott groans again, coming into consciousness, and Lucas can tell that it takes a few moments for Eliott to notice him.

“Lucas?” He says, his voice raspy with sleep. His eyes blink fully open, and then he’s pulling away. Lucas misses the proximity already. “Oh shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize—”

“Eliott, it’s okay.” Now, though, Lucas is armed with a plan. “I liked it.” Liked may be an understatement, but he doesn’t want to scare Eliott away by telling him the whole truth._ I’ve never felt so safe in anyone’s arms before_ seems a bit overkill.

“You did?” Eliott’s surprise renders Lucas surprised, as well. _Does he not know, _Lucas asks himself, _how beautiful he is?_

“I did, it was nice.” Lucas says, as if it’s an objective fact, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. His reward for being so straightforward is more than worth it: Eliott’s cheeks flush pink, illuminated in the morning sun.

“Oh, okay.” Then Eliott’s smiling, only to himself seemingly, and Lucas has never wanted to kiss anyone more than he does right now, he thinks. “I liked it, too.” As they lay there in silence, Lucas manages to stay bold, somehow, and pulls Eliott’s arm back around him, to rest lightly on his back. Light enough, as if to say _we don’t have to keep doing this if you don’t want to_. Even his boldness comes with hesitance. But Eliott takes the gesture and runs with it, drawing small circles with his finger along Lucas’ sleep-warm skin. Lucas mirrors the gesture, and commits the smile that Eliott gives him in response to his memory.

—

They stay like that for a while, holding each other close, talking about their lives. Eliott tells Lucas that he’s from Paris— _me too!_ Lucas says cheerily— that he loves visual art as much as he loves literature, that the cartoonish raccoon on his door is supposed to be him, and that— if Lucas were an animal, to keep raccoon-Eliott company— he would be a hedgehog.

It’s as if the morning is enchanted, somehow. He doesn’t notice time passing— let alone the fact that he’s been laying in bed talking to Eliott for hours now, and that it’s nearly noon. If he isn’t careful, he may have to wait another day to get a spare key for his room.

“I should go.” Lucas says, after they’ve been quiet for a while. Eliott’s expression drops slightly, and Lucas nearly says _never mind, I’ve actually decided that I’m staying here forever._ “I just need to get my key— if we’re not careful, admin will close again and I’ll be locked out for another night.” Though, admittedly, Lucas can think of worse fates. “I had… a _really_ good time though, here, with you.” Eliott’s smile is back in full force, and Lucas feels as if the universe has been restored. “Thank you, for taking me in, in the middle of the night.” He’s gotten up now, sliding his pants over his boxers, searching for his socks. Eliott follows him, helping him gather his things.

“It’s no problem. I had a _really_ good time with you, too.” Eliott mirrors his tone playfully, and it brings a smile to Lucas’ face as well. Will this happen again? Hangs in the air between them, wordlessly.

Lucas turns, heading out, and Eliott follows again, opening the door for him.

“See you around?”

“Yeah.” Eliott says, in a puff of air. Lucas has just started to turn, but then he hears “Wait.”

Eliott’s leaning in, fixing a bit of Lucas’ hair. He’s very clearly taking more time than necessary— Lucas isn’t even sure his hair was messed up in the first place, it had looked fine in the bathroom mirror when he was brushing his teeth earlier. Nonetheless, Lucas wants to lean in to the touch, but before he can, Eliott’s leaning in again. This time, though, he presses their lips together, so quickly it’s barely there, before he’s pulling away, smiling over at Lucas from his doorway.

“Feel free to lock yourself out of your room more often.” Eliott says, before closing the door.

—

“Yes!” Lucas exclaims as his door opens, at long last. Getting a spare key for his room had been an ordeal all on its own, but finally—_ finally_— he’s back in his room. As he enters, he notices a piece of paper, folded on the floor at his feet. He picks it up and reads it over.

_Text me when you get back in your room, I want to make sure you’re safe!_

_Then maybe text me after that, too?_

_XX-XX-XX-XX-XX_

Lucas pulls out his phone and enters to the number, smiling down at the drawing of a raccoon and a hedgehog in the corner of the note.


End file.
